Dutton misleads Australian public on dental policy

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PDF printable version of Dutton misleads Australian public on dental policy (PDF 248 KB)

18 September 2012

Today the Member for Dickson has either deliberately misrepresented the government’s dental policy or proven he has no idea of what happened in the May Budget, Minister for Health Tanya Plibersek said.

“In the Budget we committed $515.3 million to dental spending including $345 million specifically for taking care of adults on public dental waiting lists,” Ms Plibersek said.

“This money will be available to states and territory public dental systems from January 2013 – just one month after the closure of the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS).”

Ms Plibersek said the Opposition today also continued to support the rorted CDDS instead of backing fair and sensible reforms of dental policy that include almost $2 billion for low income adults and a blitz on public dental waiting lists.

“Tony Abbott’s rorted scheme was supposed to cost $90 million a year but ended up costing $80 million a month,” said Ms Plibersek.

“Tony Abbott introduced the scheme in the final days of the Howard Government. The scheme hands millionaires more than $4,000 each, but ignores children and low income Australians who simply have bad teeth.”

Ms Plibersek said more than 1,000 complaints were made about the scheme that included dentures that didn’t fit, amalgam fillings being swapped out for porcelain fillings, unnecessary cosmetic work and charging for work that never happened.

Labor’s new investment in dental began with a $515.3 million budget allocation followed by a $4.1 billion commitment in August.

“The package will make going to the dentist as easy as visiting a GP for 3.4 million children. Close to $2 billion will go to low income adults – pensioners, concession card holders and those with special needs. A funding boost for capital works and workforce shortages in the regions is also included.”